


Qrow Pays a Visit

by daneicole



Series: RWBY Fics [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Dealing With Loss, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 17:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19114267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daneicole/pseuds/daneicole
Summary: A heavy rain got Qrow to seek shelter while returning from an errand for Ozpin.





	Qrow Pays a Visit

A lone crow weaved through the thick forests of Patch as rain poured heavily from the dark night skies. It eventually found its perch on a doorstep and shook the water off its feathers. Within seconds, the crow changed form—turning into a full grown man. The man was unkempt, a sign that he had been travelling without so much as making a stop for a change of clothes. Despite the exhaustion and the desperate urge to kick down the door to let himself in, the man simply pressed the small doorbell and waited. It took quite a while until he heard footsteps approach the door—gods know what time it was and there he was, ringing on someone's door.

The door opened, and standing in front of the man were a young blonde girl, roughly around eight years old, and a corgi. The girl was in her sleepwear and clutching a pillow with yellow dragon patterns. She looked at him somberly, as if the sleep in her eyes was still grasping and fighting to close them again. But somehow, this girl knew better than to let it take over. She knew who was at the door, and she had to say something.

“Uncle Qrow.”

The girl took a step aside to let her uncle in and left to grab a towel. Qrow took care not to drip outside of the door mat and removed his shoes. The girl returned with the towel and wordlessly gave it to him. As he sat on the foyer and dried himself, he began to talk to the child.

“I'm sorry I dropped by so late,” Qrow told her. “You can go back to bed, I'll take care of myself.”

“It’s fine,” the girl said. “Oh, we still have some leftovers in the fridge, I could heat them up for you.”

Qrow smiled. “Go back to bed, Yang. Ruby might wake up and cry if she finds out you're not there.”

The girl—Yang—was unsure at first, then she relented and left, telling Qrow not to touch the cookie jar. The corgi walked behind her and joined her upstairs. Qrow chuckled at that and headed to the kitchen to fix himself a meal. Tonight's leftovers were potatoes and ham—Yang must have been at her wit's end. After reheating the food, he settled down and began eating. He took out his flask and remembered that he had run out of alcohol five hours ago. He resorted to grabbing a glass of water instead.

After the meal, Qrow stayed at the table, thinking as he always do. He had just finished running an errand for Ozpin and was supposed to report to him when it was done. He figured a family visit wouldn't hurt, he owed his nieces two visits because of the errand. With that, he decided to stay for a couple of weeks—the report can wait. His thoughts were now about his nieces. Ruby had started school last year, while Yang is steadily breezing her days there.

_Time flies when you don't think much of it,_ he thought.

He started thinking about the girls' future, how they would most likely end up going to Beacon. At a young age, Yang had told him she was going to pursue the life of a Huntress. She could have wished to become someone else, except being a Huntress. Ruby, tiny as she was, expressed the same sentiment as her sister.

As much as he wanted his nieces away from that kind of profession, it seemed like it was in their blood. After all, their parents all had gone on missions before, and they were good at it. With that in mind, Qrow could only hope they would become better than he and their parents were.

“You should have called. I would have waited for you.”

Qrow looked up from his glass and saw Tai standing at the doorway. Qrow had known Tai as the liveliest person he ever broke bread with, but Summer's apparent passing had left him broken and defeated. Standing before him now was a man who rarely smiled, the light in his eyes now dissipated...a man lost in his dark, murky thoughts. Qrow could also tell that Tai had been drinking, as the man staggered towards the table to join him.

“This one's an unprecedented visit,” Qrow told him. “I’m supposed to head back to Ozpin once I was done, but the heavy rain thought otherwise.”

Tai scratched his arm. “Well, once it stops you should be on your way.”

“I was actually thinking of staying for a couple of weeks.”

Tai raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t Ozpin be mad about it?”

“He can wait. Once I tell him I dropped by your place, he'll understand. Besides, I owe your daughters two visits.”

Tai nodded, looking as if he was carefully digesting Qrow's words. The man was drunk tonight—a simple statement like that had taken a bit long to be fully understood.

“They’d like that,” Tai said. “They would love that.”

Qrow looked around and flinched a bit when the lightning flashed by. “You must have been hiring a pretty excellent housekeep, Tai. Place is as neat as an Atlesian apartment.”

Tai looked around as well. “Huh? I don't remember calling for one.”

Qrow frowned. “Maybe Yang did.”

“And how would she pay for it? My salary's not here until the end of the week.”

“I did the cleaning,” Yang said.

Qrow and Tai turned around and saw Yang at the doorway. She was holding Ruby by the hand and the corgi was just behind them. Qrow stood up to retrieve the younger girl.

“I thought I told you to go back to bed,” Qrow said.

“There was lightning and Ruby woke up because of it,” Yang said, scratching her eye. “She got scared, so I offered to bring her here in the kitchen for milk.”

Ruby put her hands on Qrow's face. “Hello, Uncle Qrow.”

Qrow smirked. “Hello, kiddo. Lightning scared you?”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah.”

Qrow turned to the dog. "You, too, Zwei?"

Zwei let out a whimper and Qrow squatted down to pat him on the head.

Yang walked over to the fridge to get the milk carton, then she joined the rest at the table and gave Ruby the tall glass of milk. They were all quiet afterwards, save for the small sipping sounds Ruby made as she carefully drank the milk. Yang lazily grazed her finger on the table, Tai was twiddling his thumbs for some reason, and Qrow was watching the two of them while Ruby sat on his lap and drank her milk.

“So uh, you cleaned the house on your own?” Qrow asked Yang, attempting to start a conversation.

“Bit by bit, yeah,” Yang said, her eyes still fixated on the invisible doodle she was making on the table.

“You could have at least called someone to help. You're still a kid, you shouldn't be doing this all by yourself.”

“That's alright. I can manage. Besides, I don't have anything else to do when I'm home, so I clean up instead.”

“You don't have any friends coming over to play?”

“Well, sometimes. But I get back to my chores as soon as I'm done playing with them. Ruby helps sometimes, but I always tell her it's fine if she just watches me. She's kinda pushy about it, though.”

“Yang doesn't like it when I try to clean up,” Ruby said. “But I wanna help.”

Qrow chuckled. “Maybe when you grow a bit bigger. For now, you can help Yang by making your bed and keeping your toys away when you're not playing. It's not much, but I'm sure it's gonna make a big difference.”

Ruby nodded, then she returned to drinking her milk. Once the glass was empty, Ruby told Yang she's ready to go back to bed. Yang proceeded to walk with Ruby amd Zwei back to their rooms. The older girl wanted to sleep as well.

Qrow watched his nieces and their pet leave the kitchen, then he turned to Tai, who was absently staring at the empty glass Ruby had drank from.

“You let your kid clean the whole house all by herself,” Qrow said.

Tai was quiet. Qrow frowned at that, and it spurned him to continue.

“Tai, Yang's only eight years old. I didn't clean our dwellings by myself until I was twelve. Let me guess, you haven't even left the house today, huh?”

There was no response. Qrow scoffed and leaned back into his chair.

“How much longer are you going to hide from everything, Tai? Your daughters are growing older by the day, and yet here you are wallowing in grief as if all that shit just happened yesterday. I get it, everything hurts and it feels like you're dying. But it doesn't mean you'll drop everything just like that. It doesn't mean that you'll stop moving forward. Tai, for your daughters' sakes, wake up.”

Tai was quiet for a few more minutes, then he let out a sigh.

“It’s all too fast, Qrow,” Tai said. “Summer…she was gone before I knew it.”

Tai shifted in his seat. “She should have refused the mission, she should have just stayed home and joined the girls in playing their board games. Now, I'm thinking maybe I should have convinced her harder. That I should have begged for her to stay.”

He clasped his hands together and squeezed them. “But I didn't. I just let her send her confirmation and told the girls that Mommy’s not gonna be with them for game night. I'm angry at myself for not being pushy enough to keep her here.”

“No one saw it coming, Tai,” Qrow said. “Not even Ozpin with all the magic in the world. It's not your fault. Summer had always been the type of person who wants to make a difference, and being a Huntress was her way of doing that.”

“But at what cost, Qrow?” Tai asked, tears now welling up in his eyes. “Her life? Okay, I know I have my shortcomings, but this…this punishment is more than I can take.”

Qrow stood up. “You’re not being punished, Tai. Nobody is. People come and go, and some of them leave sooner than we expect. Now what happens to the people left behind? They don't just sit there thinking about what-ifs and all that crap. Sure, they cry, but it won't be long until they rise up and live another day.”

He walked over to Tai and kneeled, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Think of your daughters, Tai. Right now, they're watching you. Is this how you want them to deal with the tragedies of life? Is this what you want to see when they get frustrated or hurt?”

Tai shook his head. "No. It's not what I want for them."

“You’re not the only one who lost Summer. Yang did, Ruby did. I did. Hell, Raven did. So what do we do? We help each other. We do our part in living our lives even without Summer by our side. I'm pretty sure she'd prefer seeing all of us spending our days bettering ourselves and being there for each other…instead of sulking in armchairs with bottles of alcohol at our feet.”

Qrow rose. “I’ll be taking the couch,” he said as he left the kitchen.

Tai was left sitting at the table, mulling about what Qrow had told him.

\---

Qrow spent the next two weeks with Tai and his daughters as he had promised. He took the girls fishing, gave Yang a bit of training—Ruby was still too small to take part, and pitched in on restocking the necessities for the house. He also made short trips to the town's watering hole for a glass of rum…or double.

On the day he was set to leave, Qrow promised the girls another visit as soon as he was free. While Ruby was ecstatic at the thought of spending time with her uncle, Yang knew that it was an empty promise. Nevertheless, Yang figured she'd try putting her trust on Qrow once more and wait for him until the next visit.

Qrow disappeared into the forest, and a crow emerged from the trees, much to the girls' wonder. Meanwhile, Tai let out a knowing grin as he watched the bird fly into the horizon. He then turned to his daughters standing beside him.

“Yang. Ruby.”

The two girls turned their heads at their father. Tai smiled at them once more, and it was a sight to behold for them. Zwei wagged his tail happily, seeing that his master was slowly returning to his old self.

“Whaddaya say we take out the boardgames tonight?” Tai suggested.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I played around with the concept of Qrow making an unexpected late-night visit at Tai's house.
> 
> (this one's the first RWBY fic I made, I can't say if I'll be able to write more since I'm also working on fics for another fandom)
> 
> Kudos and feedbacks are greatly appreciated!


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